GRAPPLING with AUTISM

Actor William Christopher, who will appear in a play in Aberdeen next month, has been researching the Hub City on the Internet. He and his wife, Barbara, who is also coming, have looked at pictures of the Capitol Theatre and the Johnson Fine Arts Center. They know that the Hub City used to be called a “frog pond.” Christopher knows that during the early days of the railroad, Aberdeen “was sort of a center, a hub.” They've learned quite a bit. “One of the things that surprised me is Aberdeen's pretty far north in South Dakota,” Christopher said in a phone interview from his home in Pasadena, Calif. The Christophers will be in Aberdeen as part of a touring production of “Church Basement Ladies.” which runs at the Johnson Fine Arts Center on Sept. 3-7. Had a plan Idle curiosity alone was not driving the Christophers' research about Aberdeen. The Christophers' 40-year-old son, Ned, has autism. Before leaving town, they collect photos of each city they will visit. They make a little book about each city so that he will know what his parents are doing. “We put a book together of Aberdeen. So Ned will know where we are as we're traveling,” said Christopher, 75. The Christophers see a lot of Ned, who lives in Santa Barbara. “He comes home every couple of weeks, and we go up to see him in Santa Barbara.” The Christophers were preparing to be gone for nine weeks. “Church Basement Ladies,” with Christopher in the cast, will visit four cities - Minneapolis, Madison, Wis., Skokie, Ill., and Aberdeen. The books give him “some feeling of not losing contact with us,” Christopher said. “And we'll talk on the phone to him, too.” Ned “doesn't really read by himself,” his father said. The books are read to him. Pictures are especially helpful. “He's very much a part of our life, as much as can be,” the actor said. Tight family The Christophers, who have been married 50 years, spend a lot of time with their family. Their older son, John, lives in Long Beach. He and his wife are the parents of the Christophers' only grandchild, who is 2. But raising the Christophers' younger son required quite an emotional investment. Even though he was born a long time ago, “Those years of working with him as a little person, a young person, are very vivid in my mind,” William Christopher said. Ned was born in 1968. “In the early '70s, we began to really notice his autism," William Christopher said. "We worked to make a complete life for him as much as we could and help him as much as we could up until the time he left home. He became very difficult as a teenager.” Christopher is best known for playing Father Mulcahy on “M*A*S*H.” TV show helped Much-needed help for the Christophers, in the form of financial stability, arrived when “M*A*S*H” debuted. “It started in '72 and that was just about the time Barbara and I were really concerned about our young son Ned, and didn't quite know what do do. It shook us up pretty badly, to find out that his disability was going to be as heavy as it was.” They were concerned about his development even when he was 2. When “M*A*S*H” began, Ned was 4. “We threw ourselves into trying to help him by creating an education program that we designed ourselves,” he said. “M*A*S*H” came along and give the Christophers a big boost in morale. “It was the income we needed and also the boost my career needed,” he said. “It was a real bright spot in our life” to know that as the years went on, “M*A*S*H was something we could count on.” Something reliable “Those years became a little easier,” he said. “Although we had Ned's problems to deal with, we had “M*A*S*H” as a counterbalance. So it was very important to our life from that sense.” The Christophers would have been happy with “any kind of series that would have sustained us. But 'M*A*S*H' was so special that it made it that much better.” Because of Ned, Christopher became very involved with the Devereux Foundation. “What they do is they run programs around the country for people with disabilities and also they work in the area of mental health,” he said. “Devereux became a focal point of our life when Ned went to live at a Devereux facility.” Ned lives at a campus program. “He lives in a house with a couple of other housemates, very much part of the community,” Christopher said. Ned sometimes travels with members of the staff. “He has been to a lot of the national parks,” his father said. Together, his family and the Devereux Foundation try “to create a good life for him,” Christopher said.